In Tribute to Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Louis XV: Installation view, Royal College of Art, London, 1984. (Private collection)
In Tribute to Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Louis XV: François Boucher, Madame de Pompadour, cultural mistress of Louis XV. 1850. Collection Fogg Art Museum
In Tribute to Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Louis XV: Second Performance, Coracle Press at Kettles Yard, Cambridge, England. 1985.
In Tribute to Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Louis XV: The Court being prepared by an assistant dressed with a clipped yew, referencing the Ball of the Yew Trees, the first official visit of Madame de Pompadour to Versailles in 1745. 1985.
In Tribute to Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Louis XV: Filling the Courtier’s plates with honey, during the Initiation Ceremony, film still. 1985. See Film
In Tribute to Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Louis XV: A prepared colony of bees, Apis mellifera, entering the Court’s specially prepared hive, film still. 1985.
In Tribute to Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Louis XV: The Courtier’s honey plates fanning around the central Vacuum Chamber of Madame de Pompadour, film still. 1985.
In Tribute to Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Louis XV: Device worn on the wrist ensures the correct number of windings of silk thread to the lifeline bobbins of each Courtier. 1983
In Tribute to Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Louis XV: Soil samples being taken at Versailles in the early spring of 1983. Photo: J. J. Berry.
In Tribute to Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Louis XV: Collecting snails from different chateaux previously owned by chosen Courtiers, these samples were transported to England for selective breeding. 1983 photo: J. J Berry.
In Tribute to Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Louis XV: The underside of the Court is its most complex : the Calcium Chambers. This system of vats, containing dead Courtiers (their snail shells ground with carbon), is where Louis introduces water, producing the acetylene gas used to create the vacuum. 1984
In Tribute to Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Louis XV, Crushing of dead Courtiers for the Calcium Chambers, c. 1983. See Film
In Tribute to Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Louis XV: Honey is distributed by the Courtiers by lifelines attached to their shells. The acetylene gas redirects the flow of honey to fill the Cape at night and the Reservoir of Accumulated Resources during the day. This honey was used in an edition together with the perfume from the Court. 1985. See Editions
In Tribute to Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Louis XV: Over forty drawings explain the workings of the Court; this example charts the progress of each Courtier during the four weeks of the second performance. 1985
In Tribute to Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Louis XV: Over forty drawings explain the workings of the Court; this is an example of the flow of cultural energy personified by honey. date
In Tribute to Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Louis XV: A vitrine of editions relating to the Court and two snail progress charts in the drawer. 1990. See Editions.
In Tribute to Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Louis XV,: Life scale ink drawing of the Court on Mylar, the honey lines are gilded in white gold. 1991.
In Tribute to Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Louis XV: Installation view Royal College of Art, London, 1984.
In Tribute to Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Louis XV: Detail of the three specimen vitrines holding material relating the Courtiers (snails), followed by the Workers (Bees) and the vitrine in the distance the performance instruments. Installed in Christine Burgin Gallery, New York. 1990
In Tribute to Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Louis XV: Specimen Vitrine dedicated to Helix Aspersa (snails) personifying the fourteen Courtiers of Madame de Pompadour’s inner circle. This vitrine contains the mechanism for controlling the lifeline of each courtier, soil samples taken from Versailles, and technical drawings related to the Courtiers interaction in Court. 1990
In Tribute to Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Louis XV: Specimen vitrine dedicated to Apis Mellfera (bees), contains the gloves and suit used to introduce the Queen to the Court’s Colony, various elements of the specialized hive, perfume components and a set of drawings relating to the conversion of Courtiers shells to form Madame de Pompadour’s ethereal perfumed presence. 1990
In Tribute to Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Louis XV: Specimen Vitrine containing the relics from the first and second performances of the Court, resting on the Cape used to shroud the Court at night and be a vessel to store honey for the next generation of Courtiers. 1990
In Tribute to Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Louis XV,: Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson Madame d’Etioles Madame de Pompadour: Pompadour Glass Rose. 1995. See Editions.
Explication: In Tribute to Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Louis XV: Offset lithograph, 40 x 28 in. Published by Christine Burgin, New York. 1991. See Prints.
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ABOUT IN TRIBUTE TO MADAME DE POMPADOUR AND THE COURT OF LOUIS XV (1982 - 1991)
In Tribute to Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Louis XV is an elaborate machine evoking a celebration of the Enlightenment in eighteenth century France. Its focus is the cultural, economic, and political systems at Versailles, particularly Madame de Pompadour’s relationship to Louis XV and his various courtiers.
When operative, live bees and snails run the machine’s main conical structure. The bees produce the cultural wealth (honey) of the society and the snails (courtiers) consume and distribute it for various physical and symbolic purposes. The machine is an intricate model of a society, one incapable of growth or even sustaining itself: a metaphor of a thwarted paradise.
Madame de Pompadour is neither a bee nor a snail: she is an artificial vacuum, an enigma, invisible. Her presence is manifested solely through an olfactory trace, a specially prepared perfume (reputed to have been her favorite), emanating from the Hyacinth Chamber. Louis XV (a snail) controls water to the Court; his duties include watering the vats on which the Court rests. These vats are packed with crushed snail shells prepared with carbon to form calcium carbide. The King’s watering of this substance causes a vigorous reaction, releasing an anesthetic (acetylene, C2H2). This gas is piped into the main piston mechanism to create a vacuum in the glass chamber: Madame de Pompadour. She, in turn, invisibly controls—through her vacuum—the honey chambers of all fourteen courtiers, wafting her perfume into the hive, inciting the worker bees to venture out of the court and forage for fresh nectar and pollen, leading to the possibility of swarming and abandonment of the hive.
For a full explanation of this project please consult Explication: In Tribute to Madame de Pompadour and the Court of Louis XV, New York: Christine Burgin, 1991.
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